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Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Video: Aamir Khan in Incredible India Ads

The Ministry of Tourism has roped in Aamir Khan as the brand ambassador for the Incredible India campaign.

Aamir in his role has appeared in two TVCs that are supposed to be aired from today.

In one of the ads Aamir takes a some touts, harassing a couple of female foreign tourists, to task and in the other he teaches a lesson to a lovelorn couple out to etch their love on a monument's wall.

The commercials have been directed by Rakyesh Om Prakash Mehra (who is also an ad filmmaker) and the script is by Prasoon Joshi (an adman too).

The TVCs:

Harassment


Download video [00:01:04 FLV 1.35 MB]
Download hi-res video [00:01:04 AVI 4.72 MB]


Vandalism


Download video [00:00:42 FLV 919 KB]
Download hi-res video [00:00:45 AVI 3.05 MB]


Related posts:· Watch Ghajini Gajodhar Online Now
· Aamir and the lovely Gul in Tata Sky Plus Ad

Click here for the complete post...

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Tata Sky+ Damini Ad

Tata Sky Plus - Ek Ruka Hua FaislaTata Sky Plus has released a new viral ad titled Ek Ruka Hua Faisla. But it has nothing to do with the intriguing 1986 movie, instead draws the cast and the dialogue from the 1993 dhai kilo ka film - Damini.

The weight of Govind's (Sunny Deol's character in the movie) arm is established right in the beginning. But the jhatkas of Indrajit Chadda's (Amrish Puri) hair/wig are missing. And Damini literally weeps buckets of tears. See for yourself:


Download video [00:02:35 FLV 3.31 MB]
Download hi-res video [00:02:35 AVI 9.55 MB]
Download for mobile [00:02:35 3GP 2.86 MB]


While you are here, don't forget to visit this website - AdultDost.com (If you haven't already. Do not worry, it's totally safe for work. Though my boss got a scare when I first showed it to him in front of the whole office).



And Asin's new Tata Sky ads have already started airing. But they are meant for the southern India market. I've seen four ads and though I couldn't understand the language they seemed humourous. She was indeed a little over the top in the overrated Hindi Ghajini.

Most people I know are happy that Taare Zameen Par didn't make it to the Oscar nominations. They just couldn't take any more of Aamir Khan, and neither can I.

And the other day Yash Raj Films released full page ads in newspapers proclaiming that their latest film Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi is "the highest grossing film ever of Yash Raj Films". Do they seriously expect us to believe that a less than lukewarm production like Rab Ne... has actually bettered Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. No way!

Nowadays there seems to be a trend of inflating earnings and declaring movies hits even if people who actually go to watch the movie do not have many others in the theatre for company. Another trick to gain a little more mileage.

Slumdog Millionaire, another overrated movie, has actually done itself some serious harm by releasing so late in India (it's releasing even later in many countries). With the hype around the movie increasing, people who would have otherwise purchased tickets to go to the theatres are watching pirated copies. And since the ones leaked are DVD screeners, there are even more takers. It is already one of the most popular on the torrent network and other video sharing and online storage sites are already displaying millions of views/downloads. And people are gleefully passing it on.

I wonder why don't producers try for almost simultaneous releases?

Though I'm glad that AR Rahman got the Golden Globe, it is necessary to emphasise that Rahman's music in Slumdog... comes nowhere close to what he is capable of. Though the award is big, the music will stand small in his oeuvre.

Related posts:· Aamir and the lovely Gul in Tata Sky Plus Ad
· Falling in love with Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge

Click here for the complete post...

Thursday, January 08, 2009

LK Advani Turns Blogger

LK Advani BloggerWith the general elections drawing closer and politicians slowly becoming aware of the increasing power of the internet to sway public opinion (though still limited in India, but not inconsequential) BJP's prime ministerial candidate Lal Krishna Advani is attempting to reach out to the electorate via his newly set up blog on his website.

In the very first (and till posting this the only) post the Advani describes the internet as

...the most democratic of all the communication platforms invented by mankind so far. Censorship of political communication on the internet is both impossible and unthinkable - except in communist and other dictatorships.

And the reason why he started this blog
My young colleagues who have created this website told me that a political portal without a blog is like a letter without a signature. I quickly accepted this compelling logic.

I am excited by the idea of using the Internet as a platform for political communication and, especially, for election campaign.

We should soon expect to see more politicians joining the blog brigade.

Related posts:· List of Indian Celebrity Blogs

Click here for the complete post...

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

James Bond Drives a Maruti 800

James Bond's Own Car

The extra zero is just to confuse the SPECTRE, Quantum and SMERSH guys. And no one would expect the swashbuckling spy in a humble 800.

(This photograph was taken in Shillong and the vehicle is registered in East Garo Hills District of Meghalaya)

Related posts:· The Maruti 800 Pick-up

Click here for the complete post...

Saturday, January 03, 2009

List of Indian Celebrity Blogs

Celeb Blog There are celebrity bloggers and then there are celebrity bloggers. The first kind are those who have gained name and fame via blogging and the other includes the ones who are famous and are now therefore reaching out to their fans via the medium of the weblog.

This post makes an attempt at listing the Indian celebrities (mostly Bollywood people) who have taken on to blogging.

There are a number of lists listing celeb blogs in India, but I didn't find any to be comprehensive enough, therefore spent many many hours looking for them and putting them together in one place (and also adding some frills).

The opinions expressed against each blog is at the time of posting and if the nature of the blog changes later, it might not hold true.

Indian Celebrity Blog Directory (in alphabetical order)

  1. Aamir Khan
    Who: Actor, director, producer [More]
    Where: His own website
    Feed: No
    Worth following: Yes
    Aamir keeps his blog regularly updated. Writes about a lot of things but many tend to revolve around his films. Good blog to follow if you want to know what The Perfectionist has to say. But the blog in itself is far away from being perfect. It even lacks many features that we non-celebrity bloggers expect as default in our blogs.

  2. Abhay Deol
    Who: Actor [More]
    Where: Celebrity Angst blog at PassionForCinema
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: No
    Abhay's blog at PassionForCinema has a single post related to his film Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye and nothing else.

  3. Abhinav Bindra
    Who: Shooter [More]
    Where: Beijing and Beyond blog on Blogger
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: Maybe
    The Olympic gold medallist isn't no longer an active blogger. Though he hid post a number of posts in August 2008.

  4. Ajay Devgan
    Who: Actor, producer, director [More]
    Where: His own website
    Feed: No
    Worth following: Maybe
    Ajay Devgan makes very infrequent entries on his online diary and it is more of an one-sided affair as users cannot comment there.

  5. Ajit Pal Mangat
    Who: Director, producer, writer [More]
    Where: Blog at BollywoodHungama
    Feed: No
    Worth following: Maybe
    Ajit is the producer-director of Victory and this blog is related the movie.

  6. Amitabh Bachchan
    Who: Actor [More]
    Where: Big Blog at Bigadda
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: Yes
    The Big B is a prolific blogger and Bigadda.com has provided him with a comparatively decent platform to blog on. His and Aamir's blog are the two most discussed celebrity blogs in the country.

  7. Amrita Rao
    Who: Actress, model [More]
    Where: Blog at BollywoodHungama
    Feed: No
    Worth following: No
    She's good looking but doesn't write much. Only two little posts.

  8. Anant Mahadeven
    Who: Actor, director [More]
    Where: Blog at BollywoodHungama
    Feed: No
    Worth following: Maybe
    Anant hasn't been writing much recently. Maybe there'll be more updates when his next film would be lined for a release.

  9. Anupam Kher
    Who: Actor, director, producer [More]
    Where: Blog at IntentBlog
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: No
    This blog is long dead.

  10. Anurag Kashyap
    Who: Director, writer [More]
    Where: My Diary blog at PassionForCinema
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: Yes
    Anurag's thoughts are interesting to read even when he is spewing fire at his detractors.

  11. Bipasha Basu
    Who: Actress, model [More]
    Where: On her own website and an old blog at RediffBlogs
    Feed: No
    Worth following: No
    No diary entries since March 2008. Miss Basu doesn't seem to find this blog thing interesting enough. 15 posts in all. The RediffBlogs blog is practically defunct.

  12. Celina Jaitley
    Who: Actress, model [More]
    Where: Blog at BollywoodHungama
    Feed: No
    Worth following: Maybe
    Though she hasn't yet blogged much, Celina does love to quote other people in her posts.

  13. Cyrus Broacha
    Who: Television host [More]
    Where: Blog at IBNLive
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: No
    The funny man writes funny posts but the last one was dated February 26, 2007. That's ages ago.

  14. Dev Benegal
    Who: Director [More]
    Where: His own blog - The Dev Benegal Weblog
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: No
    The last post was ten months ago.

  15. Dibakar Banerjee
    Who: Director, writer [More]
    Where: Oye Cinema! blog at PassionForCinema
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: Maybe
    He made a couple of nice movies and his blog too has only a couple of nice posts.

  16. Dino Morea
    Who: Actor, model [More]
    Where: Blog at BollywoodHungama
    Feed: No
    Worth following: No
    Dino's blog seems to be as short-lived as his acting career.

  17. Emraan Hashmi
    Who: Actor [More]
    Where: Blog at BollywoodHungama
    Feed: No
    Worth following: No
    Nothing there beyond May 2008. Maybe something would crop up when Raaz 2 releases.

  18. Farhan Akhtar
    Who: Director, writer, producer, singer, actor, television host [More]
    Where: His TV show's website
    Feed: No
    Worth following: Yes
    Farhan is a wonderful director and a so-so singer-actor-host. This blog is more about his show on NDTV Imagine, but he also does write about other things too. But there are only four posts, therefore can't say more.

  19. Gul Panag
    Who: Actress, model [More]
    Where: On her own website
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: Maybe
    The lovely Gul isn't seen much besides the Tata Sky ad with Aamir Khan and even her blogging is erratic, but it seems to have picked up pace of late.

  20. John Abraham
    Who: Actor, model [More]
    Where: On his own website
    Feed: No
    Worth following: Perhaps
    The functionality of John's blog is a bit strange and moreover there isn't much in there too. Only a solitary post. But he might get on to writing soon.

  21. Karan Johar
    Who: Director, producer, TV host [More]
    Where: His own website
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: Yes
    When KJo writes, he writes a lot. But of late there isn't much happening on his blog.

  22. Khalid Mohamed
    Who: Journalist, writer, director [More]
    Where: Cinema Ray at PassionforCinema
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: No
    All that the acerbic film critic wrote on the blog was a couple of posts related to Satyajit Ray.

  23. Kiran Bedi
    Who: Ex-cop, social activist [More]
    Where: Crane Bedi blog on Blogger
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: No
    Nothing in there since November 2006.

  24. Koena Mitra
    Who: Actress, model [More]
    Where: Blog at BollywoodHungama
    Feed: No
    Worth following: No
    Three posts, nothing worth the while.

  25. Krishnamachari Srikkanth
    Who: Former cricketer, cricket commentator [More]
    Where: Blog at IBNLive
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: No
    Last post is dated March 18, 2007.

  26. Kunal Kohli
    Who: Director [More]
    Where: Blog at BollywoodHungama
    Feed: No
    Worth following: Maybe
    Kunal tends to be repetitive in his writing.

  27. Kundan Shah
    Who: Director, writer [More]
    Where: Simply Kundan blog at PassionforCinema
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: Maybe
    Kundan writes about his area of expertise, comedies, even if his later ventures were nowhere close to Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro.

  28. Lalu Prasad Yadav
    Who: Politician [More]
    Where: Blog at MyPopcorn
    Feed: No
    Worth following: No
    Lalu's blog had generated quite a lot of interest, but the idea seemed unsustainable right from the start and also proved to be so. Just another attempt by a website to generate pageviews.

  29. Lisa Ray
    Who: Actress, Model [More]
    Where: Blog on Wordpress.com
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: Yes
    Lisa started to blog on September 2009, "to give people an insight into" her life after she was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma.

  30. Nandita Das
    Who: Actress, director [More]
    Where: Nandita Writes section on her own website
    Feed: No
    Worth following: Maybe
    Known to be a thinking actress, her writing also reflects that thought. But she doesn't seem to write too often.

  31. Madhavan
    Who: Actor [More]
    Where: Blog at Galatta
    Feed: No
    Worth following: No
    Maddy's writes short and irregular posts. There doesn't seem to be much interest in his blog either, assuming from the few comments it received.

  32. Mammootty
    Who: Actor [More]
    Where: Mammootty With Love blog on Blogger
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: Yes
    Mammotty just started his blog, the first post was on January 1, 2009 and he already has hundreds of followers on his blog. The only problem being that it is in Malayalam and therefore I can't understand a thing. Moreover Google lists Mammootty's official website (not the blog) as a Reported Attack Site.

  33. Manoj Bajpayee
    Who: Actor [More]
    Where: Two blogs at ItzMyBlog (powered by Blogger) in Hindi and English
    Feed: Yes - Hindi | English
    Worth following: Yes
    The two blogs are just translations and the content is essentially the same. There are atleast a couple of posts every month.

  34. Milind Deora
    Who: Politician [More]
    Where: Blog at IntentBlog
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: Perhaps
    Most of Milind's blogging seem to be concentrated to a few months in 2005. There's not much here beyond that.

  35. Mohan Agashe
    Who: Actor, psychiatrist [More]
    Where: Blog at RediffBlogs
    Feed: No
    Worth following: No
    This blog was primarily for the promotion of the movie Apaharan.

  36. Muzaffar Ali
    Who: Director, fashion designer, painter [More]
    Where: Blog at IntentBlog
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: No
    Only two posts. The last is from 2005.

  37. Nana Patekar
    Who: Actor, director [More]
    Where: Blog at RediffBlogs
    Feed: No
    Worth following: No
    This blog was primarily for the promotion of the movie Apaharan.

  38. Omar Abdullah
    Who: Politician [More]
    Where: On National Conference party's official website
    Feed: -
    Worth following: -
    The blog is presently inaccessible due to technical reasons.

  39. Onir
    Who: Director, producer, writer, editor [More]
    Where: Dream Seller blog on PassionForCinema and another one on BollywoodHungama
    Feed: Yes (PassionForCinema)
    Worth following: Perhaps
    Onir's blogs posts are usually related to his films and therefore are more frequent only when something is happening on that scene.

  40. Payal Rohatagi
    Who: Actress, model [More]
    Where: Her blog on Blogger
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: Yes
    Payal keeps her blog updated and has plastered the blog with images. Her brother Gaurav is the co-author.

  41. Pooja Bedi
    Who: Actress, TV host [More]
    Where: I Am Who I Am blog on Blogger
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: Perhaps
    Pooja Bedi takes to blogging made quite a bit of news. But then it seems to have fizzled away. She has managed only two posts since August 2008.

  42. Prakash Jha
    Who: Director, producer, writer [More]
    Where: Blog at RediffBlogs
    Feed: No
    Worth following: No
    This blog was primarily for the promotion of the film Apaharan.

  43. Rahul Bose
    Who: Actor, director [More]
    Where: Blog at IntentBlog
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: No
    Most of Rahul's blogging activity is from 2005-06, with only a solitary post in 2008.

  44. Rahul Khanna
    Who: Actor, TV host [More]
    Where: Blog at IntentBlog
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: No
    He is a likeable actor and his writing is the same too. Pity he doesn't keep his blog updated.

  45. Ram Gopal Varma
    Who: Director, producer, writer [More]
    Where: Blog on Windows Live Spaces
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: Yes
    Ramu might have lost his touch in movies but he is still an interesting read.

  46. Ravi Shastri
    Who: Former cricketer, cricket commentator [More]
    Where: Blog at IbiboBlogs
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: No
    This blog was only for the Commonwealth Bank Triseries in 2008. Nothing more happening there since.

  47. Remo Fernandes
    Who: Musician [More]
    Where: On his own website
    Feed: No
    Worth following: No
    Only a solitary post there, that too a copy of a letter he had sent to the editors of some dailies.

  48. Revathy
    Who: Actress, director [More]
    Where: Sindanaigal (Thoughts) blog on PassionForCinema
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: No
    There are only two posts there.

  49. Rohit Roy
    Who: Actor [More]
    Where: Blog on his own website
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: No
    Just three random posts in there.

  50. Saira Mohan
    Who: Model, actress [More]
    Where: Blog at IntentBlog
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: Yes
    Though there are no recent posts, the archives show that the girl is able to post a lot when she wants to, even if they are only links.

  51. Salman Khan
    Who: Actor [More]
    Where: 10 Ka Dum blog on Blogger
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: No
    The blog died along with the TV show it was meant to promote.

  52. Samar Khan
    Who: Director, writer [More]
    Where: Blog at BollywoodHungama
    Feed: No
    Worth following: No
    Just one Shaurya specific post.

  53. Samit Basu
    Who: Author [More]
    Where: On his own website
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: Yes
    Though he hasn't been posting of late, Samit used to be an active blogger and I expect him to continue being so.

  54. Sanjay Suri
    Who: Actor, model, porducer [More]
    Where: On his own website
    Feed: -
    Worth following: -
    You need to be registered as a member of the Sanjay Suri Fan Club (online registration) to be able to access the blog. I didn't, so have no idea of the contents.

  55. Santosh Sivan
    Who: Director, cinematographer [More]
    Where: Lil Bit of Sin, Lil Bit of Zen blog on PassionForCinema and also on his own website
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: No
    In the PassionForCinema blog there has been no updates in the last one year and his website doesn't exactly have a blog but does provide some of his views on different things (and they have a datestamp).

  56. Shahrukh Khan
    Who: Actor, producer [More]
    Where: Blog at IntentBlog and at
    Milan of the Villains website
    Feed: Yes (IntentBlog)
    Worth following: Perhaps
    There might be some activity on SRK's blog during the next IPL season. The IntentBlog blog has only a single old post on Paheli.

  57. Shekhar Kapur
    Who: Director, producer [More]
    Where: On his own website and
    a blog at IntentBlog
    Feed: Yes - ShekharKapur.com | Intentblog
    Worth following: Yes
    Shekhar Kapoor is one celebrity who has really take on to blogging. Even the now inactive blog on IntentBlog has 110 posts and he keeps the blog on his official website very updated. His blog is a recommended read and has insightful posts on a variety of topics. Shekhar is definitely the best amongst the Indian celebrity bloggers.

  58. Sherlyn Chopra
    Who: Actress, model, singer [More]
    Where: Blog at BollywoodHungama
    Worth following: No
    Feed: No
    Sherlyn Chopra, earlier known as Mona Chopra, always wants to make news and is a tabloid journalist's delight. She promised a blog on her official website - SherlynChopra.com - but that didn't happen yet.

  59. Shilpa Shetty
    Who: Actress, model [More]
    Where: On her own website
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: Yes
    Shilpa's career has risen from the ashes post Big Brother and she wants to make the best of this opportunity. Her recently started blog has some long posts.

  60. Shobaa De
    Who: Novelist, columnist [More]
    Where: Blog on Blogger
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: Yes
    After so many years writing should come naturally to Mrs De and she also lets it flow in her blog.

  61. Suchitra Krishnamoorthi
    Who: Actress, singer, painter [More]
    Where: On her own website
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: Yes
    Suchitra is quite active on her blog nowadays, maybe some Shekhar Kapur effect.

  62. Sudhir Mishra
    Who: Director, writer [More]
    Where: Trying My Best Not To Bullshit blog on PassioForCinema
    Feed: Yes
    Worth following: Perhaps
    Sudhir posts are usually related to the release of his films. So wait until the next one comes along.

  63. Vikram Bhatt
    Who: Director, writer [More]
    Where: Blog at MyPopcorn
    Feed: No
    Worth following: No
    Only three dated posts there. Same fate as Lalu's blog.

  64. Vishal Dadlani
    Who: Music director [More]
    Where: Blog at BollywoodHungama
    Feed: No
    Worth following: No
    Not much in his blog, only a couple of old posts.

  65. Vivek Agnihotri
    Who: Director, writer [More]
    Where: Blog at BollywoodHungama
    Feed: No
    Worth following: No
    Nothing much in there.

To make things easier for all the celebrity blog lovers out there I've accumulated all the feeds of the blogs categorised as worth following (including the ones in the maybe category) into one single feed. You can subscribe to the consolidated Indian Celebrity Blogs Feed here.

[The regularly updated ones have three posts featured while the others have only a post each]

Do help expand this list. Leave your suggestions in the comments.

As an additional frill I've created a Indian Celeb Blogs widget, that you can put up at a lot of nifty places. The widget features the 10 most active Indian celeb bloggers and displays the latest posts from their blogs. You can choose your option from the Share button.

Indian Celeb Blogs Widget


Click here for the complete post...